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Viacom Makes Streaming Content Deal With Amazon

Following up on its digital distribution deals with Netflix and Hulu, Viacom has completed a deal that will let Amazon.com customers stream a selection of its TV shows over the Internet.

The shows available on Amazon.com will include “Jersey Shore,” “Hot in Cleveland,” “iCarly,” “Dora the Explorer,” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Some of the titles are available elsewhere; episodes of “Jersey Shore” and “Hot in Cleveland” are on Hulu’s paid subscriber service, and some episodes of “SpongeBob” are on Netflix. But Amazon customers who don’t have Hulu or Netflix accounts — or who prefer Amazon instead — will now have access.

Amazon has been building a stockpile of films and TV shows that can be instantly viewed on its Web site and on its tablet computer, the Kindle Fire. Right now the instant viewing is an add-on to Amazon Prime, an extension of Amazon that provides free two-day shipping and other benefits. But Amazon is widely expected to soon spin off a bundle of film and TV show streams as a stand-alone service, making it more like Netflix.

“Over the last year we have received fantastic customer feedback about Prime Instant Video. We are constantly working to improve the service by adding the shows that our customers enjoy the most,” Brad Beale, the director of video content acquisition for Amazon, said in a news release Wednesday.

Viacom’s chief executive, Philippe Dauman, alluded to the Viacom deal on an earnings call with analysts last week. Such licensing deals by Netflix and its competitors have bolstered big media companies in the last year or so because they have created a new marketplace for content. Earlier this week Verizon signaled that it would soon enter the marketplace too with a streaming service in concert with Redbox, the DVD rental company.